It’s been 4 months since the world started a mass working remotely experiment. And the results are in, and they are (surprisingly) positive. A Research from a Harvard Business School study showed that “work from anywhere” arrangements that allow employees to work outside of the office actually increased productivity by 4.4%.
While there are challenges and hurdles to overcome with remote work, especially if your business or company was not digitally focused. Our recent blog on Tips on How to Work From Home, we acknowledge the need to have transparent communication, strong leadership and accountability for our work with self-disciplined routines.
Nevertheless, the data shows remote work works. But nowadays, the world’s top companies are recognizing that remote work does, in fact, work.
Looking ahead, business as usual or returning back to normal will look a lot like it does today. Remote work is here to stay. When the pandemic is over, 30% of the entire workforce will work from home at least a couple times a week.
So what does this mean for you as an employer or a business owner?
- Flexibility to work from anywhere
- Decreased physical office space
- Less time spent in transit to and from the office
- Hiring more remote workers
I get it, we might be missing the how things used to be. Having a quiet office space that isn’t doubling as your living room or bedroom, or the sharing in the breaktime banter with co-workers. But we need to let it sink in that this pandemic has led to disruptive changes on a global scale. Changes that impacted many aspects of our economy, work life and personal lives. In times like these it’s important to keep a positive perspective and remember a few tips from an astronaut, Chris Hadfield.
1. Setting New Boundaries
Don’t let yourself feel trapped by your physical environment. Set boundaries for your ‘work space’ and ‘work time’. Hold yourself and others accountable for following these new rules.
2. We’ve Got Communication Resources
Connection matters, and working remotely can feel isolating. We need to take pause to consider all of the technologies we have available at our disposal to help us maintain connections with co-workers, friends and family. There’s numerous workflow communication apps out there like Chatnels, Slack and Zoom that combine chat messaging and video conferencing.
3. Radio Silence Is Restorative
When all that communication gets too much to handle, we need to learn how to power off and end the work day. Having structured time blocked off for non-work time and activities will help restore your mind and body.
See how your business can make the most of working remotely with Chatnels. Sign up your organization for free and see the difference it can make to your workflow communications.
